#madnessdiamond

#bnrcontinues Winners Announced!

Ngl, it was EXTREMELY difficult for us to pick just 5 winners total, so I perhaps added in 3 more Honorable Mention slots bc I'm indecisive

Huge congrats to the following!:

1st: @tatillon_angel

2nd: @BuneeBun

Honorable mentions:

@/83mothsinasweater (IG)

@/toffink (IG)

@TikoChanX3

@madnessdiamond

@TheMaximumPanic

@FridaysHate

I'd really like to thank everyone who participated and even though I couldn't give everyone an award, I do wish I could. I will be contacting the winners shortly for details, as well as asking permission from contest entries to feature their pieces in the comic itself at the top of episodes.

eheh thank you! i’m glad you like the comic! and the music! ohboy when people like your taste in music it’s always somewhat catartic ::D

GIMMIE

<333 

Not frequently in the Midwest, but I was in Kirksville, Missouri last year at Truman State University, and one of the talks I gave was indeed open to the public. I may be going to WorldCon next year in Kansas City, but I haven’t decided yet. Oh, also I was in Chicago last week for Chicago Ideas Week, and the talk I gave there was open to the public. Does that count as the Midwest? I’ll be in Cleveland too in a couple weeks, but that’s probably too far east…

I’ve had a lot of success teaching other people to pronounce difficult sounds, but I have never successfully taught someone to roll their r’s. I don’t know what it is. I feel like I can’t describe it adequately. It just happens, and even though I know what’s happening, that information doesn’t seem to be helpful when it comes to reproducing it…

I will say this, though. You know the song “Give It Away” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers? Anthony Kiedis, the lead singer, pronounces a trill in the chorus when he’s saying “give it away”. He actually trills the “t”. If you can sing that chorus like he does, you’ll be doing it. I don’t know if that will help, but, I mean, it’s there. It’s English, and it’s not normal speech, since it’s a song, but it is definitely there. Start slow, and just keep speeding it up until you’re doing it as fast as you can.

I don’t think it’s likely… Part of what led to Klingon’s popularity was the popularity of the Star Trek franchise (there’s no comparison between that and Defiance), and the fact that there was no competition. No one really knew about created languages in the 80s and 90s, so it was really just Klingon that everyone had heard of. Now there’s a lot of conlangs attached to popular shows. The languages of Defiance can’t compete with the languages I created for Game of Thrones, for example—and none of those have any chance of catching up with Klingon.

Athdavrazar! To answer your questions, there is no companion at the moment for High Valyrian. Living Language Dothraki doesn’t go into how I created the language, as it really is an instructional guide. It’ll teach you how to use the language, but doesn’t go into the process behind it. For that, though, you can pick up my new book, The Art of Language Invention, which comes out September 29th. That goes into all sorts of detail about how I create languages generally, and also some specifics on the creation of Dothraki.